This prospective,
participant-observation project seeks to understand how teenagers, families and
health care professionals’ experience participation in decision making
regarding care and treatment. It focuses on young people aged 13-19 years,
diagnosed with leukaemia, receiving their care and treatment in the UK.

This research sets out to
identify how health care professionals and parents incorporate principles of
involvement of young people in decision making, into practice. Secondly, it
will identify how young people themselves understand their involvement in both
principle and practice. By focusing on interactions in real time we intend to
highlight how involvement is enacted between the young person, the health care
team and the parents. Analysis will then provide evidence¬-based
recommendations to inform the development of guidance for how these three
parties make decisions regarding care and treatment of a teenage patient.

Assessment of the potential and implications of analysing multiple outcomes collected in clinical trials simultaneously using multivariate modelling (Victoria Vickerstaff)

The PhD examines the benefits of analyzing clinical trials data with multiple outcomes using multivariate modelling compared to standard methods. The research will also explore the interpretation and implications of the multivariate modelling on sample size calculations.Victoria is supervised by Prof. Rumana Omar and Dr Gareth Ambler, who are based in the Department of Statistical Science, UCL. The PhD commenced in 2013 and is funded by UCL.

“Choice” for people with primary brain
tumours: How it is constructed, interpreted, and enacted in the practices of
healthcare (Henry Llewellyn).

“Choice” is a major discourse
guiding the organisation of healthcare in the NHS. While welcomed by many as
empowering patients with rights over care decisions, it is far from
straightforward. Some argue that decisions remain much more likely to be made by
clinicians, while others characterise choice as an ideal that destabilises the
practices designed to guarantee “good care”. A key concern is what constitutes
a meaningful and informed choice. Here, the capacity of the chooser has become
a major focal point, perhaps most salient in the care of people with
neurological conditions. This PhD explores the meaning and character of choice
in this context through an ethnographic study of the care of people with brain
tumours.

Sarah
is undertaking a qualitative PhD in the patients’ experience of illness in
advanced cancer as part of a feasibility randomised control trial examining the
use of a psychological intervention called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
(ACT) compared to Talking Control (TC) in which people can talk about their
concerns. Negative thoughts and feelings are common in cancer and patients
attempt to struggle to avoid them (experiential avoidance) may be
counterproductive. ACT helps people tolerate uncomfortable feelings and behave
in a healthier way. Qualitative analysis
of recorded interviews will help to identify the main ways in which patients
think and behave and see how changes may occur with ACT and the TC.

The purpose of this
doctorate is to identify whether some clinicians are more expert than others at
predicting survival times in patients who are approaching the ends of their
lives. The research will also investigate the heuristics that expert
prognosticators use to inform their judgments. The studentship was originally
funded by the St George’s University of London Graduate School and is now
funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care. The PhD is due to be completed in April
2018.

A prospective study exploring
medication use in residents with dementia in UK care homes. The primary
objective investigates whether taking a higher dose of analgesic medication
means that a resident will receive more or less psychotropic medication. The PhD
commenced in October 2014 and is in collaboration with the UCL MARQUE Project
(led by Professor Gill Livingston).

‘How do Adolescents With Cancer Use the Internet in Gaining and Giving
Support? Lessons for Professionals from
Service Users’. (Johanna Kempe)

The purpose of this doctorate is to examine the way in which young
people with cancer use the internet in relation to their care and to consider
the implications for clinical and research practice and policy. The studentship
of Johanna Kempe (primary supervisor Myra Bluebond-Langner, secondary L. Jones) is funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Raisa Gorbachev
Foundation for 4 years and starts on 1st October 2014.